What Animal Leaves Sliding Trails In The Snow In Minnesota

A frame from a video of a fisher "sliding". Watch the video beneath to see what the fisher is really doing.

The fisher and its cousin the river otter often create tracks and trail patterns of similar advent. If tracking atmospheric condition are poor and tracks are unclear, distinguishing between these ii mustelids can exist tricky concern. Notwithstanding in snowfall, otters commonly slide ofttimes, creating a characteristic toboggan-like impression. But exercise fishers slide, too? Non very often, and I don't know if they ever actually slide for the purpose of efficient travel, as otters practise. Perhaps they do, only my interpretation of the fisher "slides" that I accept institute and then far, was that the creature was dragging and rubbing its underside, probably for the purpose of odour marking, maybe for grooming, simply not sliding to motion rapidly. For this reason, I prefer to call these "drags" rather than "slides", for the latter implies a similarity to what the otter is doing.

Watch the fisher action in the video beneath. Notice that at about 17 seconds, the animal begins to "slide" on the water ice. This fisher was clearly not sliding for the sake of travel. Information technology rubbed its underside on the water ice, and then proceeded to lick its groin. To me, this suggests that the purpose was scent marking, grooming, or both.

Now here's an example of a fisher "slide" (drag) in nearly i/ii inch of snow on water ice. This one is very short – pretty conspicuously a body drag, not a slide, and non for the purpose of travel.

"Slide" marks created past a fisher. I believe this to reflect the fauna'south dragging and rubbing its underside to scent marking and/or to groom.

Here's another fisher "slide", this time in deeper snow, on approximately level ground (slightly downhill), and a piffling longer (~3 anxiety). This one looks similar to an otter slide, just it'south still quite brusk. Scent mark? Grooming? Efficient travel? Or just plainly fun? I think scent marking is probable, grooming is likely, fun is possible, just efficient travel is unlikely.

This sign left past fisher looks a lot like an otter slide, but information technology was simply 3 feet long.

Now cheque out this otter slide, which was about eight-10 inches wide.. The creature did this all the way across the frozen swimming, periodically pushing off with its anxiety. This is an animal sliding to travel.

An otter slide.

Mink may likewise slide for travel. On occasion mink exit long slide marks when moving downhill in snow, as seen in the case below. To me that suggests sliding for the purpose of efficient travel…so I am content to call a mink slide a slide. Perhaps mink sometimes also drag their bodies for shorter distances to aroma mark.

A mink slide. It is long, like an otter slide, merely much narrower, at well-nigh three inches in width.

To printing the point about the distinction between sliding for travel vs. dragging for other purposes, let's expect at some of the other mustelids. Badgers too rub their undersides on the ground, presumably to scent mark, but nosotros don't phone call that "sliding". Here's a photo of the sign left by a badger dragging its belly on flat, level ground:

A badger drag. Front tracks of a annoy are at the far left. In the rest of the photograph, look carefully for drag marks of its fur. They are most noticeable at the far right.

Martens also "slide". But is it sliding, in the same sense that otters slide, or is it dragging? I recall the latter. In my feel with marten tracking and camera trapping so far, this species drags its abdomen and/or groin, oft well-nigh the base of a big tree or stump. Even when the slide is several feet long, a little spot of yellow – perhaps urine or some glandular secretion – may exist seen. Therefore, I believe this dragging is washed for the purpose of aroma marking.

A marten left these marks in the snow at the base of a large tree to the left. The carmine arrow indicates the location of a yellowish spot. I recollect this "slide" was where the brute dragged and rubbed its underside to leave its smell.

A trail camera photo of a marten rubbing its groin and/or belly on the snow at the base of a big tree. I suspect this is how the "slide" in the previous photo was produced.

And, for the sake of completion, I'll mention the smaller weasels. From them I've seen just short "slides" of no more than a few feet, so far, which I think bespeak scent marking. Here's 1 from a long-tailed weasel:

A sliding marking left by a long-tailed weasel

So, to sum up, the evidence suggests that otters and mink slide for efficient travel, merely I have even so to see convincing evidence that fishers, not mention the other mustelids discussed here, exercise the aforementioned. I think the short "slides" produced by the fisher and other mustelids reflect scent mark and/or grooming, and maybe sometimes goofy behavior only to have fun in the snowfall. If yous come across bear witness of a fisher sliding for more than several feet, I'd love to hear from you, specially if you take good photos of the slides with something for scale, also as photos of the tracks or other evidence indicating that the animate being was, in fact, a fisher.

Edit 1/ten/2019: Someone just provided excellent documentation of fisher sliding which probably was for the purpose of travel. It's a 10 human foot long, downhill slide, with associated photos indicating that the beast was a fisher, and non an otter.

Source: https://winterberrywildlife.ouroneacrefarm.com/2019/01/09/do-fishers-slide2/

Posted by: motleychricand.blogspot.com

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